The widespread practice of fortifying food with folic acid could be slowly changing the genetic make-up of the population - and perhaps creating future generations more vulnerable to fatal diseases.

That's the provocative idea being proposed by researcher Mark Lucock of the University of Newcastle in Ourimbah, Australia, and Zoe Yates of the University of Leeds, UK, in Nature Reviews Genetics[1].

Folic acid is a type of B vitamin that is vital for many metabolic processes, and it is added by law to flour and grain products in some countries, including the United States. This ensures that pregnant women, who are often unaware of their pregnancy early on, eat enough folic acid to reduce the risk of their babies developing defects in the brain and spine...........